The Joy Of Christmas
by XxblondehermionexX
Summary: Harry is five years old and is celebrating Christmas with the Dursleys. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I don't own Christmas. I wish I did though.

The Joy of Christmas

It was Christmas Eve and little Harry Potter couldn't sleep. He was excited about tomorrow and was jumping up and down on his bed. Every time he jumped too high he would hit his head on the slanted ceiling but that didn't stop him. He may only be five years old but he knew what Christmas meant- presents!

He'd received some Christmas cards from his teacher and some of the children at school who didn't know about Dudley. When he'd gotten home he'd shown the cards to Uncle Vernon who gave them to Dudley who ripped them up. That made Harry cry.

But tomorrow would be special. Christmas was something that Dudley couldn't take away him. The other children had been talking about it for months. Santa would be coming tonite and leaving the children all sorts of presents. He might get a bicycle or some new colouring pencils. He'd even written a letter to Santa asking if he could have one of the reindeers for Christmas.

His home in Privet Drive had been all decorated for Christmas. There were hundreds of flashing lights on the roof and there were signposts telling Santa to stop here planted in the front yard. They even had a plastic Christmas tree inside the house. It used to be green but Dudley had a temper tantrum and said that it was boring so the Dursleys had spray painted it red.

Harry was worried that he would sleep in and miss Christmas so he was jumping on the bed to try stay awake. He decided that this took too much energy and that his head hurt from all the bumps so he just lay down on the bed with his eyes open, determined not to fall asleep. He was just closing his eyes for a few seconds to see if it was any darker when he started to dream.

His dream was about Santa Clause riding on a flying motorbike to deliver presents. He flew into Harry's cupboard and told him to come for a ride on the bike with him. Harry hopped on and they flew all over London giving all the children giant slippery dips for presents. Then they flew back home and woke up Dudley. Santa told Dudley to stop being mean to Harry so instead of being mean he was nice. It was a good dream.

The light switch had been turned on in Harry's cupboard to wake him and his Aunt Petunia tapped loudly on the door. At first he thought about going back to sleep but then he realised what day it was-Christmas! He leaped out of bed and ran into the living room where his cousin, aunt and uncle where all sitting. He went to join them but Aunt Petunia said that first he had to pick up all the toys off Dudley's bedroom floor.

He quickly ran upstairs and placed all the toys in Dudley's toy cabinet. He raced back down again and got his first good look at the presents sitting under the tree. There must have been hundreds of them! Dudley was already tearing into the largest one and unwrapped a kid sized army tank. Then Vernon gave Petunia a small box that contained something shiny and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Dudley got lots more presents, a computer, box seat tickets to a car derby even a blow up swimming pool. Every time a present was handed out Harry would think 'this one's for me' but it never was. Finally all the presents had been unwrapped and Harry could feel tears welling up in his eyes.

"Where's my present?" he asked his aunt and uncle. Uncle Vernon grinned in an unpleasant way and pulled a small package out from behind the tree.

"This one's yours" he said while parsing the present to Harry. Harry was delighted; Santa hadn't forgotten him after all. He didn't even care that it was small, he was just happy that he got something. He ripped off the wrapping paper eagerly and was surprised when something black and chunky fell out.

"What is it?" he asked a grinning Uncle Vernon. He honestly had no idea what it was. It was not like any of the presents Dudley was given and as far as he knew none of the boys in his class owned one either.

"It's a lump of coal" replied Vernon nastily. "Santa gives it to bad children who don't do what their Aunt and Uncle tell them to do. It means you won't be getting any Christmas presents this year or any other years." This caused the tears to flow freely from Harry's eyes and he ran out of the room. He ran out into the street slamming the front door behind him. The Dursleys cried out in shock because when Harry ran from the room all the globes on the Christmas tree simultaneously broke.

He kept running until he reached the street corner at which he collapsed into a sobbing heap. He was making such a racket that a little old lady came out of her house to see what all the crying was about.

"What's wrong dearie?" she asked sweetly. "Are you lost?"

"No" hiccuped Harry. "Santa thinks I've been naughty and only gave me coal for Christmas. But I'm not naughty I'm good." His words seemed to upset the woman who told him to wait there while she'd be right back. He could hear her moving about in the house but had no idea what she was doing. She came back out again in less than five minutes with a present in her hands.

"Santa told me that you would come by" she said to Harry. "He said to tell you that you really have been a good boy and to never doubt yourself. He also told me to give you this." She handed him the present and Harry gave her a small smile. He unwrapped it slowly really hoping that it wouldn't be more coal. He was delighted with what he found. Inside was a yo-yo, a picture book and some Christmas pudding.

"Thankyou very much" he said happily. He then surprised the woman by giving her a big hug.

"You run along and play now" she said kindy. "As long as you know you've been good don't ever listen when people try to tell you otherwise."

Harry walked back home thinking about how much he loved Christmas.


End file.
